The votes are in for the best movies of the year, and our top two picks are Barbie and The Little Mermaid!
Barbie, our first top 2023 movie, was directed by Greta Gerwig. The Barbie movie was a great movie. It had a lot of good mom and daughter moments, and it also had some really strong themes of female empowerment. Gerwig’s reasoning behind the creation of the movie was quote on quote, “I want the movie to make people somewhat relieved of the tightrope.” I can see where she is coming from with the feeling of relief in the Barbie movie. Barbie goes into reality and fights that tightrope of reality over fantasy, and she finally finds herself and lets go of that tightrope.
One thing that felt odd about the movie to me was Ken. In my opinion, the majority of the hype surrounding the movie was about Ryan Gosling in the movie and his performance of Ken. I don’t think he should have had as much hype as he got. If the movie just stuck on the subject of the mother and daughter relationship and female empowerment, it would have been all hands down a great movie. I just don’t think there should have been as much hype on the #kenenough.
On the other hand, while interviewing people on their opinions, I found they thought the whole Ken subject was needed so it didn’t sound like an anti-man, women’s rights attacking movie. I do agree with that statement, but although Ken was needed, I don’t think that more than the half of the movie should have been about him. It was funny seeing some of the scenes, but at the same time, the whole Ken part didn’t need to interrupt Barbie’s story- but again, this is just my opinion. Another interview that I got was from a fellow student- I won’t name drop because she’s asked me not to- but she personally loved the whole movie. She loved how Ken was in the movie and how he brought good humor and laughter to the movie. While I still think it was a bit too much, I see where she is coming from on having all that good humor from Ken.
Another one of the best, top-rated 2023 movies was the live-action Little Mermaid, directed by Rob Marshall. Personally, this was my favorite movie of the year. It kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time, and I felt like I never got bored of the movie. It had amazing actors, and Rob Marshall in general is a good movie director.
Rob Marshall’s message behind the movie was “not being afraid of people that are different from you.” My opinion on the movie was that it showed that you shouldn’t change for anyone. For example, in the movie, Ariel wanted to get legs and give up her voice just for a guy- but in the end, she learned that she shouldn’t have to give up her voice to be heard. And, I mean… in the end, they do end up getting married despite the leg thing, which would be hard if it was realistic and a mermaid married a human… but it’s all fiction, after all! Besides all of that, I think the Little Mermaid is a wonderful movie and was perfectly brought together.
In some people’s opinion, Halle Bailey was not right for the role of Ariel. But personally, I thought that she did a wonderful job playing that part. She had an amazing singing voice, and she was just in general a wonderful actress. The whole entire cast and the movie itself was well written and produced. It had award winning actors and actresses and an exceptional crew of producers.
In conclusion, choosing between both movies out of Barbie or Little Mermaid, I would recommend The Little Mermaid; it just has more to look forward to and entertain yourself while watching, and it’s very entertaining for all to see. I’m not saying Barbie is a bad movie; it is a great movie, actually, but I would still choose the Little Mermaid over
Barbie. Both movie directors are amazing, and they make amazing films and productions.
But maybe #kenenough is a bit too much and it’s time we just had enough.
